Ice Station
Ice Station is Matthew Reilly's second novel, and is the first to feature Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield. It follows Schofield and his Marine Recon Unit as they investigate an ice station in Antarctica. Synopsis At a remote ice station in Antarctica, a team of US scientists has found something buried deep within a 100-million-year-old layer of ice. Something made of metal. In a land without boundaries, there are no rules. Every country would kill for this prize. A team of crack United States marines is sent to the station to secure the discovery. Their leader - Lieutenant Shane Schofield, call-sign: SCARECROW. They are a tight unit, tough and fearless. They would follow their leader into hell. They just did... Summary After a diving team at Wilkes Ice Station is killed following their discovery of what appears to be an alien spacecraft, the station sends out a distress signal which is picked up, and a team of United States Recon Marines led by Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield is dispatched to secure the station. Upon arriving he finds that French scientists from a nearby French research station have already arrived and several more come after the Marine's arrival. Some of the French, however, reveal themselves as soldiers and a fight ensues in the station. During the battle, some of Schofield's men, Hollywood, Legs, Ratman, and a few scientists are killed in various gruesome ways, but all of the French soldiers are killed, and two French scientists are taken into custody. During the course of the battle, Mother loses her left leg to a killer whale in the diving pool, and Samurai is badly injured. Schofield decides to send a team down to find an object below the ice where the diving team was going to, and one of the scientists, Sarah Hensleigh, requests to go as well. Later, Samurai is found dead via suffocation, leaving the only people he trusts to be Hensleigh and another soldier named Montana as he was with them at the time of Samurai's death. Hensleigh, Montana, and two other Marines, Gant, and Santa Cruz, are sent down in the diving bell. While trying to figure out who killed Samurai, Schofield confides in Mother his worry that there may be a traitor in the unit, recalling an incident a few years earlier where a fellow Marine, Andrew Trent, was apparently killed by traitors in his own unit. Mother reminds Schofield that one of the scientists, James Renshaw, was locked in his room after apparently killing one of his fellow scientists before their arrival. While waiting for Snake to report on Renshaw's status, Schofield is shot and killed. However, Shofield later wakes up, having being accidentally resuscitated by his attacker, and is in the care of scientist Renshaw, who claims his innocence and asks for Schofield's help in proving it. Watching a video of Schofield being shot, they see the attack, what appears to be a giant, mutated elephant seal about to eat him, and soon discover it to be Snake that tried to kill him. Schofield manages to capture Snake before he is able to kill the wounded Mother. While trying to get answers out of Snake, Snake only reveals that he is from the Intelligence Convergence Group, an organisation of corrupt military soldiers and scientists which strives to secure the latest technology for the U.S., and that they will kill everyone at Wilkes to ensure the organisation's integrity once they have the ship. The team learns of an appending attack by the SAS, led by an old mentor of Schofield's, Brigadier Trevor Barnaby, and decide to flee the station, though Mother elects to stay behind since she will slow them down, and Snake is left to the SAS's mercy. During the escape via the available hovercrafts, Schofield and Renshaw's is pushed off a cliff (though they land in the water safely), Book and the step-daughter of Hensleigh, Kirsty, are captured, while Rebound escapes with the four remaining scientists. Meanwhile in the United States, the still-alive Andrew Trent meets with journalist Pete Cameron. Trent explains that his unit was infiltrated by agents from the ICG. Trent now wishes to expose the ICG, and along with Pete's wife Alison, discover the mission going on in Antarctica. During this time, Gant and her team have found the apparent alien ship, but soon discover it is a prototype stealth fighter known as the Silhouette, which was built in secret but lost in an earthquake during the 70's. Schofield manages to destroy a French submarine intending to destroy Wilkes, and he and Renshaw find an iceberg-encased station with diving equipment. While preparing to head back, Schofield looks at Renshaw's evidence that he did not kill the scientist, and accepts that he did not. Meanwhile, Barnaby kills the two remaining French scientists and feeds Book to a pod of Killer Whales after Book lies about the diving team but Snake rats him out. Schofield returns to the station manages to kill all of the SAS troops, and Barnaby, as well as Snake. Schofield receives a message from Trent with a list of members of a secret service known as the Intelligence Convergance Group which includes Snake, and Montana. Montana succeeds at killing Santa Cruz and wounds Gant, only to be eaten by another mutated Elephant seal. Schofield then learns from a fellow Marine, Romeo, that U.S. forces have surrounded Wilkes, and are waiting for a SEAL team to go in, and Schofield realises they have orders to finish off anyone inside. Escaping to the cavern with Renshaw, Kirsty and her pet fur seal Wendy, they are attacked by more Elephant seals, though Schofield manages to kill the bull. While taking refuge, Schofield realises Hensleigh herself is an ICG agent, but before she can kill Schofield, she is killed by the wounded Gant. With the station about to be destroyed by a nuclear missile launched by the British, Schofield, Gant, Renshaw, Kirsty, and Wendy escape on the Silhouette thanks to Schofield's piloting skills, and after a dog-fight with ICG-controlled F-22 Raptors, land on the USS Wasp, which Schofield's friend Jack Walsh is Captain of. Schofield destroys the Silhouette with one of its own missiles, also killing ICG Admiral Thomas Clayton. While heading back to Pearl Harbour, it is revealed that Mother had escaped Wilkes before its destruction and was saved by US forces. At Hawaii, the survivors are nearly killed by Charles Kozlowski, one of the heads of the ICG, but luckily are saved by the intervention of Trent, Pete and Allison, and Walsh. Renshaw assumes custody of Kirsty as her godfather, and after the Camerons' publish the stories of Trent and Schofield, the ICG is shut down and its members arrested. Shofield refuses to leave Gant's side until she recovers. Characters Marine Reconnaissance Unit 16 *Lieutenant Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield *Gunnery Sergeant Scott "Snake" Kaplan *Staff Sergeant Buck "Book" Riley Sr *Sergeant Morgan "Montana" Lee *Sergeant Gena "Mother" Newman *Lance-Corporal Elizabeth "Fox" Gant *RFC Robert "Rebound" Simmons *Private José "Santa" Cruz *Corporal Oliver "Hollywood" Todd *Private Augustine "Samurai" Lau *Corporal Georgio "Legs" Lane *Sergeant Mitch "Ratman" Healy Wilkes Ice Station Staff *Sarah Hensleigh *James Renshaw *Abby Sinclair *Kirsty Hensleigh *Warren Conlon *Ben Austin *Bernard Olson *D.K. Llewellyn *Harris *Robinson Enemy Forces *Jean-Pierre Cuvier (France) *Jacques Latissier (France) *Jean Petard (France) *Luc Champion (France) *Henri Rae (France) *Brigadier-General Trevor Barnaby (Britain) *Nero (Britain) *Sergeant-Major Charles Kozlowski (USA) *Captain Arlin Brookes (USA) *Captain John Yates (USA) *Admiral Thomas Clayton (USA) Others *First Lieutenant Andrew "Hawk" Trent *Pete Cameron *Alison Cameron *Captain Jack Walsh *George Holmes *Phillip Munro *Pierre Dufresne *Richard Royce *Emmett Somerville *Otto Niemeyer (Mentioned only) *Captain Harley "Romeo" Roach *Denise Gant *Carmine Yeager (Mentioned only) Animals *Killer Whales (O. orca) *Elephant Seals (mutant M. leonine) *Fur Seals (A. gazella) **Wendy Scarecrow Series *''Ice Station'' *''Area 7'' *''Scarecrow'' *''Hell Island'' *''Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves'' Gallery Ice-station-cover-5.jpg Ice-station-cover-4.jpg Ice-station-cover-3.jpg Ice-station-1-.jpg Trivia * This is the first novel in the Scarecrow Series. * This is also the first novel to feature characters that are primarily referred to by call-signs and nicknames Category:Books Category:Scarecrow Series